TY - JOUR
T1 - Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Alleviates Tinnitus-Related Distress Among Veterans
T2 - A Pilot Study
AU - STRONG STAR Consortium
AU - Moring, John C.
AU - Resick, Patricia A.
AU - Peterson, Alan L.
AU - Husain, Fatima T.
AU - Esquivel, Carlos
AU - Young-Mccaughan, Stacey
AU - Granato, Elsa
AU - Fox, Peter T.
N1 - Funding Information:
The project described was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, through the Clinical and Translational Science Award KL2 TR002646. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent an endorsement by or the official views of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the U.S. Government. The authors would like to thank Amanda Flores, Antoinette Brundige, and Deanne Hargita for administrative support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Purpose: Military service personnel are at increased risk for developing tinnitus due to heightened exposure to acoustic trauma. The auditory disorder is the leading service-connected disability among veterans and is highly comorbidly diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The biopsychosocial model illustrates that chronic health conditions are exacerbated or maintained by psychiatric distress. Therefore, alleviation of such psychiatric distress can have beneficial impacts on health conditions, such as tinnitus. The aim of this study was to determine whether individuals with both disorders who receive evidence-based therapy for PTSD will experience decreases in both PTSD and tinnitus-related distress. Method: Veterans with comorbid bothersome tinnitus and PTSD received cognitive processing therapy and were assessed for PTSD, tinnitus-related distress, and depression at baseline and 1 month posttreatment follow-up. Results: At posttreatment follow-up, participants demonstrated significant decreases in PTSD symptoms compared to their baseline scores. Participants also demonstrated decreased tinnitus-related distress and depression, with high effect sizes. Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrated that clinical management addressing psychiatric distress, as associated with PTSD, may simultaneously provide benefit for patients with bothersome tinnitus. Although not statistically significant due to the small sample size, large effect sizes indicate that tinnitusrelated distress decreased as a function of receiving evidence-based therapy for PTSD. Future clinical trials should increase sample sizes and compare effects to control conditions.
AB - Purpose: Military service personnel are at increased risk for developing tinnitus due to heightened exposure to acoustic trauma. The auditory disorder is the leading service-connected disability among veterans and is highly comorbidly diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The biopsychosocial model illustrates that chronic health conditions are exacerbated or maintained by psychiatric distress. Therefore, alleviation of such psychiatric distress can have beneficial impacts on health conditions, such as tinnitus. The aim of this study was to determine whether individuals with both disorders who receive evidence-based therapy for PTSD will experience decreases in both PTSD and tinnitus-related distress. Method: Veterans with comorbid bothersome tinnitus and PTSD received cognitive processing therapy and were assessed for PTSD, tinnitus-related distress, and depression at baseline and 1 month posttreatment follow-up. Results: At posttreatment follow-up, participants demonstrated significant decreases in PTSD symptoms compared to their baseline scores. Participants also demonstrated decreased tinnitus-related distress and depression, with high effect sizes. Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrated that clinical management addressing psychiatric distress, as associated with PTSD, may simultaneously provide benefit for patients with bothersome tinnitus. Although not statistically significant due to the small sample size, large effect sizes indicate that tinnitusrelated distress decreased as a function of receiving evidence-based therapy for PTSD. Future clinical trials should increase sample sizes and compare effects to control conditions.
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U2 - 10.1044/2022_AJA-21-00241
DO - 10.1044/2022_AJA-21-00241
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 36001823
AN - SCOPUS:85143552351
SN - 1059-0889
VL - 31
SP - 1293
EP - 1298
JO - American journal of audiology
JF - American journal of audiology
IS - 4
ER -